Thoughts (and occasionally fuming) about the state of science, fiction, and science fiction.

by author and technologistEdward M. Lerner

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Taking the long view

Security lapses long predate computers. Your list of favorite breaches may differ, but DeVry University nonetheless came up with an interesting set (seemingly in the belief history began around 1600). See "Top Information Security Breaches in History."

But wait! There's more ...
For one, there's the reinvention of buying books and other entertainment. The tech is seriously cool. But what about the ownership experience?

As if. When you buy a printed book or a game cartridge, you own that copy. You can reasonably expect its behavior to remain the same over time and when opened in different settings. What about when you pay money to download an ebook or a game (or movie, iTunes song ...)? You don't own that copy. No, you've acquired limited rights governed by a lot of legalese you probably don't read. The legalese -- and, more so, the equipment that makes use of the download -- constrains in strange and wondrous ways what can be done, and for how long, and in what context. And the controlling software in that device can itself be revised by download. See Cory Doctorow's fascinating essay (with a bit of plug for Pirate Cinema, his latest novel), "The Secret World of Hardware Revocation."

For how long has power generation by nuclear fusion been a few years (and a few billion dollars) around the corner? Too many. From IEEE Spectrum, see "National Ignition Facility: Mother of All Boondoggles?" The NIF's saga brings to mind ITER (aka, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which is now looking to start actually fusing something in 2027. Oh, well. It's not as though clean energy is on anyone's wish list ...

What to read?

Non-US shoppers

Featured Post: A Milestone

On October 16, 2007, Fleet of Worlds was first published. That is: ten years ago to the day. Larry and Ed at 2015 Nebula weekend This...

Energized (Newly reissued!)

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Dark Secret (my latest)

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InterstellarNet: Enigma (I-Net #3)

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InterstellarNet: Origins (I-Net #1)

"One of the most original, believable, thoroughly thought-out, and utterly fascinating visions ever of what interstellar contact might really be like."— Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog

A Time Foreclosed

"A nice little foray into the paradoxes of time travel" — SFRevu

Fate of Worlds (FOW #5)

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Juggler of Worlds (FoW #2)

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Fleet of Worlds (FoW #1)

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ARMAGEDDON / PARADISE -- two books in one

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Small Miracles

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Fools' Experiments

“When the artificial intelligences ... go maverick, they turn out to be the true weapons of mass destruction. A fast, fun read.” — Sci Fi Weekly

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About Me

I'm a physicist and computer scientist (and an MBA, of less relevance to most of these posts). After thirty years in industry, as everything from individual technical contributor to senior vice president, I now write full-time. Mostly I write science fiction and techno-thrillers, now and again throwing in a straight science or technology article.